What If You Could Feed Your Chickens For FREE

[@saddleridge4364]

I watched that Karl Hammer video, he is up to his ears in knowledge. I think this is a good start for you Simeone. Go for it.

[@rhondamontiel3827]

Really liked this one! I am brand new to farming this year and am working towards compost fed chickens also. Watch Justin daily and anoirthemedhi almost every night before sleeping. So happy that you are all on KZbin!

[@robertcarver4295]

Love seeing your children happy, healthy, running around outside, which seems to be lost on most kids these days who are sitting inside playing violent video games and getting into trouble.

[@oldchickenlady]

loved your video - great info as always - but it was so wonderful to hear and see your children playing in the background - it made me smile!!

[@rickgreen9936]

4:25 "I think the chickens will kind of look at me funny" LOL nothing like being scrutinized by your chickens.

[@BlaBla-pf8mf]

They do look inquisitive.

[@minniechorkie6341]

Rick Green they will be thinking you need the sun on the legs lol!

[@simidhel]

My dad kept chickens fed via scraps and compost. He felt that chickens seemed to head straight for the compost when let out anyway and that they originated from jungle fowl who thrived upon the natural detritus of the jungle floor. Having lived through harsher times, he also needed to raise chickens without wasting grain. I wish you the best of luck!

[@nicolaiitchenko7610]

It was not until the advent of "industrial" grain farming that chickens were ever fed grains. They are a forest bird which is basically a forager. People who feed them only grains are damaging their chickens, making them weaker and more vulnerable to disease and the basic cause of intensive farming chicken flu. Chickens have NEVER been vegetarian!

[@simidhel]

Brian Curwick I believe all birds have gizzards and whilst chickens do indeed have the type to allow breaking down seeds if they're available, I don't believe it's necesary or even normal for them to live exclusively on grain, as has become the standard with industrialised farming. They should still encounter a reasonable percentage of grain through this method though via food scraps including pasta, rice and so on?

[@simidhel]

Brian Curwick Some good points there. I'm familiar with the FFA which seems like a great organisation but I'd not heard of 4-H before so I must look at that up at some point so thank you for mentioning it. My own youth was spent listening to the stories of a long family history of farming in the UK whilst I myself grew up around farms in Australia and then attended agricultural high school and college and para-vetinary studies, but my own life, somewhat regretably, later steered me away from farming of any sort. I love watching these sorts of homesteading and small scale farrning channels though, along with those of the larger scale farming ones to a certain extent, to help retain some level of contact with it and my past. It brings me solace amongst the turmoil of life, so I'm very grateful to people like Simeon and his family and others of his ilk who take the time to share a glimpse into their worlds. I wasn't seeking to win an argument or anything as such by the way, rather than just sharing my own experiences and thoughts about this sort of approach and so greatly appreciate your own responses and perspectives, thank you. :)

[@simidhel]

Cheers for the info - I've now been reading up and watching videos about 4-H and it's really inspiring and gives me hope about the future to see the sorts of skills these youths are developing. It's also just really enjoyable to watch all the different perspectives and projects they're involved in. Thanks again for brining it to my attention.

[@nicolaiitchenko7610]

Not so much they are not 'supposed' to eat grins...just that historically they were not fed grains. The industrial ag. culture we have created over the past two-three hundred years has a glut of grain - corn, wheat, etc. that won't be sold at sustainable prices and is subsidized by government policy. This has created whole industries of grain feeding animals that were foragers now being grain fed almost exclusively. Check out the beef industry for example...cows are GRASS feeders and yet they are put in CAPOs and fed almost exclusively grains...Industrialized intensive chicken production also feeds mostly grains to chickens which, as foragers, where omnivores...not vegetarians. Limiting the types of feed to chickens on economic grounds does not justify making omnivorous animals a product rather than allowing a chicken to be a chicken. Bored and too top heavy to walk in crowded sheds, never seeing the sun and force fed 24 hour lighting food and water...to the point where a human entering such a shed need breathing apparatus suggests a not so good environment. The gizzard of a chicken hold gravel, which they pick up where possible, and is the reason that grit of some kind is included in chicken diets, so that they can break down harder items of foraged feed SUCH as the occasional grain, hard shells of insects, and other such 'sweet meats' for chickens. Hope this clears it up.

[@fakecubed]

So glad you mentioned older hens teaching younger hens. Social animals like chickens definitely have wisdom to share, so it's great when economics allows for those animals to teach the new generation.

[@1111jessyjames]

Nice job brotherman. I find delight in joining you on your journey and watching your ups and downs. We are all experiencing them and you're not alone. I'm starting the urban homestead movement in my neighborhood with the chickens and garden. Next is the compost pile to help reduce the feed cost for the chickens. You're doing great Sir.

[@antoinettegurdely8811]

My suggestion would be to build the materials in layers to get the proper building of the pile, so it will heat up properly..

[@heatherj3030]

The children in the background running in a circle are two cute! Thanks for the information video. I did see that video you were talking about, but your set up is more doable for my back yard flock. Thanks for sharing!😊

[@pearlmoore7969]

It is so good to see you all back! Great idea about free chicken feed! I look forward to watching more videos!

[@mascatrails661]

Awesome! Glad to see someone trying this system out from the beginning. Quick thought: seems to me that using the deep bedding from the chicken coop in the 'feed' compost pile could lead to some parasite problems... I would venture to guess its not a big deal in this initial pile since you're getting it started before introducing the chickens, but later on, I'd at least pre-compost it before tossing it into their 'feed' pile.

[@karengarza7104]

I'm looking forward to watching how this works for you. I'm setting up a similar system for raising my chickens in my fruit trees orchard.

[@cassityart7001]

Great. Just left a comment on another video of yours about Carl. Then I found this video. 🙂 I hope people start getting into this as an expense eliminator. Bagged feed kills profit especially when you raise meat birds. Growing black fly larva works wonderfully. Old hens do 2 things well, scratch all the time and sitting still during bloodiness. This is the exciting beginnings of a closed loop. Over plant the garden for the purpose of feeding your hens. Save seeds. Repeat. Blessings.

[@victoriawatkins770]

the children running behind you playing is so cute.

[@Christine-777]

Victoria Watkins I've been thinking the same!! I listened to every bit of his vlog but watched the wee ones running, playing and squealing with joy! lol So precious!!! ♡♡♡

[@carlosportini1979]

Brilliant video with perfect sound and color. You sounded excited.

[@mooseknuckle8334]

I hope everything works out! Thanks for another video. Greetings from Nova Scotia!

[@FarmFreshIB]

Really looking forward to the experiment. I hope you have wonderful results.

[@beardcraft7020]

Thanks for shearing! I am jumping on this bandwagon right away, my compost just found a new home - The chickenyard :)

[@craigmooring2091]

Looking forward to seeing this project being implemented. That episode of the American Farm Tour stirred a lot of questions for me.

[@peewees6199]

I really learned alot with your cows and pigs so this should be really good with the chickens. Thanks and God bless you and yours!

[@bondhuis]

Love the experimentation: especially in the face of overwhelming internet information. Thankyou!

[@mattandsarahfish8866]

So happy to have found your channel. SUBSCRIBED and signed up future video notifications. Hope and Pray this works for you. We will take your suggestions and implement them to our small flock. Enjoy the warm weather.

[@Robert-ij9ih]

Was working with delivering bread to stores before, present work, and often farmers came to collect the old unsold bread for food for their animals... 😊👍

[@josephgiovannilumajen6857]

thanks for sharing Simeon... looking forward for more vids..

[@lewisward8483]

Should work fine for most of the year. Careful observation. Make sure they have access to grit. You have that tractor to stir the compost up and break up that silage. Should be fun.

[@shirleyj5885]

Don't know how I missed this But am super excited to see how things progress. been looking to find ways to cut my own feed cost.

[@christineortmann359]

Excellent project!! I want the same thing! Thanks for sharing.

[@riosmoodie5763]

I learned how to do it with Woo&Pep. I think Woo&Pep's guide is the best way to be salubrious.

[@antoinettegurdely8811]

Another idea or concept of a chicken system would be to allow your chicken yard become a deep litter area..compost scraps would be given to the pen, and let the birds forage through these piles of scratch you have

[@garymccoy2888]

Wonder if the chicken guts from a few videos ago, will work in a compost pile. I always heard not to put meat scraps I a compost pile. .??

[@lunaflamed]

I put meat and any other animal kingdom food into the compost, what the chickens don’t eat, the bugs will. Will attract scavengers/predators but they often then eat the easy meat and leave your chickens alone.

[@BusterABrown]

Hi Simeon, I just watched the Vermont composter guy. He uses a lot of labor, gas... to produce his food for chickens. I think you could do it with table scrapes and fodder in the winter months. Too bad you don't live in the tropics.

[@simeonandalex]

Karl is producing a lot of compost which he obviously needs machines for. The food scraps and initial piles are what feeds the chickens. It doesn't seem like to much labor goes into that. When the piles mature and they handle the masses more the chickens don't touch it anymore.

[@BusterABrown]

I believe that gas, parts for machinery and trucks to drive around to the restaurants like Karl's system does is going to be hard to find in the future. Gas is highly subsidizes in the United States. I'm looking to let Mother Nature provide everything possible with the least amount of intervention by man - like using a scythe instead of riding lawn mower to cut say winter rye for a chop and drop.

[@simeonandalex]

Yes, it is good to look at alternatives like you mention but food wastes if collected locally still have a better carbon footprint than grain where the ground is tilled and so on...

[@alexisfishinhuntinandfarmi2923]

amazing. I have a compost pile

[@dorascott8286]

I too saw the Mr Hammer clip ..Really something...Good luck...

[@meganphillips4961]

I have just started doing this for my chickens. They love it. I am slowly making the change. They go over fed this morning and one one even touched the feed all just working the piles.

[@tammyt870]

I have been watching the videos from Justin Rhodes and Karl Hammer about compost feed as well. Looking forward to seeing how your experiment goes! I was thinking about telling some of our friends and neighbors they could save their kitchen scraps for me in exchange for eggs, so we have more food scraps to put on our compost pile. We would also need to find a nearby source for manure, but I think it's totally do-able!

[@simeonandalex]

Yes, the neighbours collecting food scraps sounds like a good plan.

[@Theorimlig]

Carl Hammer is feeding chickens on compost by composting food waste from restaurants, and that's what the chickens mainly live off of. A compost pile made of other stuff is good entertainment for them, and can be beneficial in several ways. But it won't give the chickens very much of the nutrition they need. They'll get some worms and grubs, for sure, but hardly more than a protein supplement (which is still a good thing!).

[@simeonandalex]

+TheodorEriksson Karl Hammers chickens only eat 20% food scarps and 80% off of the biota.

[@MetaView7]

I would separate the material into three piles, so that the worms and bugs can have a chance to regenerate.

[@phxtonash]

MetaView7 that's not a bad idea because he's not totally going for compost he's going more for chicken feed

[@theprofarmer6887]

Hello i am composting leafs IT best to compost took only 6 mounts.

[@georgegibson707]

Interesting, I get the impression from Karl Hammer's operation that his chicken's feed mainly on the waste food scraps and not that much on compost bugs etc. Maybe you could try to collect food scraps from off the farm. like he does.

[@pestelario]

Hi Simeon. Thank you for the videos. Karl gets food scraps from local restaurants, and mixes them into the compost, which feeds 300 birds. His piles are huge. How many birds would you want to feed with that method?

[@simeonandalex]

Karls recipe includes 20% food scraps in a pile and he says they need 2 pounds of compost / day / chicken. 80% is from the biota. I will have to see how many food scraps I can get and then see how it turns out...

[@charlymaher3361]

Swedish Homestead if my kids were still young, I'd offer you their peas and broccoli. 😁

[@donaldmiller2423]

Swedish Homestead Restaurants are a source of food scraps but they will usually be cooked food and often will include meats . A better source may be the unsellable food wastes from a market ! Then you can collect raw vegetable waste only . Quite doable if the distance is not too great . Plus mix in all of the farm sources also . The fellow in Vermont that does this has some really huge compost piles !

[@pestelario]

Tanks for the reply and good luck!

[@nayadev8351]

hi! and how is the laying percentage? how many chickens do you have and how many eggs each day?

[@debbiegallett1125]

In the summer when the chickens are free ranging I don't give them any grain at all.

[@Flexaret]

This will be an interesting experiment, I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out.

[@antoinettegurdely8811]

Here is an idea, you may have silage bails that you are not able to tear apart, then why do not you treat them like a bail that you would treat with blood meal, and bone meal to encourage this bail to rot....I took this idea from gardening with straw bails.....

[@geraldtrice4894]

Where we live compost piles with food scraps attract bears, raccoons, skunks and other critters. Do you have similar problems?

[@donaldmiller8629]

@Gerald Trice , By food scraps do you mean meat scraps ? Waste lettuce and tomatoes should not be too much different than cut grass , leaves and manure.

[@boudreaumay3040]

To enhance your compose get 3 or 4 boxes of dried blood and sprinkle it on top of the pile and water it. It just speeds up things.

[@kentuckycowboy2]

I know you have to get to your compost pile to work it but is there a way you grow something around it, maybe on three sides? I compost on a very small scale compared to yours and grow flowers sometimes tomatoes around mine and they grow like crazy from the nutrients that leak from the moisture of the compost. The plants always grow large enough to hide the compost completely to.

[@brendasmiley6128]

I love everything about your channel. ✌🌞

[@gerrymarmee3054]

Looking forward to the results!

[@conradhomestead4518]

Great ideas in this video. Do you have any updates on this system?

[@hgils]

it's going to be interesting watching the results. looking forward to it 😆

[@deniserollick5107]

You don't turn the pile to mix it every once in a while?

[@mimisfavorites5269]

Always interested in compost. I am forever experimenting with it to get it to break down faster, more completely and with richest results.

[@BusterABrown]

Hi Mimi, Does Yahoo still have a comment section? Marissa threw me out... but that's another video. At 70 years old I'm more interested in doing things the easy and cheap way, just pile it up, until it's done.

[@cainnorbert]

How big is your farm? looks very pretty.

[@hermitld]

Very interesting subject, Simeon, how do you know the limits of the compost pile to keep the mass 'hot' enough to kill pathogens and yet not self distruct from burning up like green hay and spontaneous combustion? Keep up the videos, great new camera results too.

[@simeonandalex]

I think the risk for the hay to start burning is low since it is mixed into the pile with manure, wood chips and lots of other organic matter.

[@danielmcardle3476]

I guess you have seen the Vermont Composting videos already. They manage to feed hundreds of chickens from their commercial compost operation. If not, check it out. Good luck.

[@Ticdaniel]

you're really busy you say.. please bring the camera and film it!!!! if you are so busy you cant problem finding video material. 👍👍 bring gopro and edit in some daily stuff like you use to do.

[@lunaflamed]

Ticdaniel YES!!!!

[@phxtonash]

that's so cool how you could feed the boys and old girls if you could just cut the cost of food

[@katoball5668]

I really interesting of your creative idea of feeding chicken by compost, may I know how many week that we can produce 1.5kg of chicken by using this method ?

[@sacadosify]

I'm curious if you have any problems with the chickens getting worms or other parasites? I also recently learned that in England feeding chicken meat is banned due to prions related to BSE. Is this a concern of yours?

[@mungkawula5539]

can chicks eat it too? because I really want to get answers to my thoughts * sorry, my english looks messy

[@frickerdavid9772]

try Black fly breading for larva for feed

[@vickyiliaens1000]

hi there !! I have over 20 chickens that I recently had to move to a run , those were free ranged chickens and they used to live in trees but also we never had to feed them ANYTHING ! and they were Always happy and healthy ! never deseases etc ! what did they eat ??? well , despite the fact I bought them food ( grainmix , laymix etc ) they just did not eat it as they Always had a full belly from ... believe it or not ! they ate the horeses compost from a few horsekeepers a bit further and every day they were just in that poo I was disgusted by but till my surprise it kept these chickens very well fed and happy ! no odd taste in their eggs either ! now I have moved this flock to my backyard where they do not have acces to that compost and they eat the grain but you can tell on their behavior that these chickens just do NOT like to eat grain at all !!! all they eat of mainly is leftovers ! now I made an arrangement with the people from the horses , I told them about the chickens that just loved to eat that eww stuf and he said with a smile " haha there is nothing better for a chicken ! ever since your chickens got up to our compost I was not surprised at all ! but I miss your guys here because the horses also have their you know what and I do not know where to stay with it so I was honestly thinking about bying my own chickens for this as they LOVE IT " I said can we make a deal ? can I let my chickens free range on your compost during the day ? " he said sure ! and now again I have the most happy chickens , how much of food you need ? just make sure that you know the horses were fed with a good grainmix to begin with as that is actually where the chickens look for the most ! If you know the horses did not get that DO NOT let your chickens seek for food there , its not a good idea ! you should calculate the same as if this is grain ( 300 gr each chicken in compost or with smaller ones 150 grams ) compost is heavy on their stomach ! it contains a lot of grains , herbs , greens and ofcourse bugs and so a lot of proteines ! If you are not sure about the amount they ate in reality Always make sure they have acces to grains and water ! by how much of grains that they ate you soon find out how much of compost they are eating , here they eat none ! however I make sure they can in fact Always eat grain they prefer horsecompost !!

[@susieawalt7416]

I will be looking at this method on a smaller scale

[@simeonandalex]

Awesome.

[@10us101]

I did not know you owned a flower mill your legs look like you have been walking around in it hahaha

[@wendyrowland7787]

Those lovely galvanised hurdles will soon rust if they stay round dung. Pallets are free and expendable.

[@brianphilbrook5262]

Good luck. I want to try this too

[@patricminderhout]

Thair is 5 times the life force in organic produce than commercial . Kilian photography (photos of life force ) The falce limb or cut a Leaf in half it will show a whole energy field of missing part.but it only works if the leaf was fed only organic diet.

[@thecynic807]

What is on the back of your tractor

[@charlymaher3361]

The wood chipper. Used for weight offset to the front and additional traction. Past videos explained.

[@thecynic807]

Charly Maher lol I thought it was some sort of exhaust system or biodiesel system

[@charlymaher3361]

The Cynic it certainly does look a bit futuristic. Haha

[@shriaingnama]

make those chickens eat ca ca !

[@amyjohnson7834]

if you have success, I will definitely do this! good luck :)

[@Thikester]

Did anyone train a dog to protect the chickens?

[@randyc5650]

I used to skin and tenderloin one or two ice chests of fish every other week or so and bury the heads, skin, scales guts and bones in my yard. My son was about as old as your second youngest, 4 or 5, and he threw some fish parts over the fence into my neighbor's chicken yard, about 40'x40' with 30 something chickens. It disappeared. My neighbor said it was ok to throw all of it over there and it all disappeared usually in a day. Thanks for your videos. Please credit your music if you can.

[@kathybrochu1057]

I think they will do fine there !

[@catherinesharpley475]

See edible gardens they have a whole episode on chickens and compost I saw it today

[@rocksteadfarm]

I wish that we had droughts that look like that in Aus :)

[@simeonandalex]

Yes, I understand that drought means something else at other places. It is easy to be fooled by the green trees and lush grass. All that is growing from the moisture from winter that is in the soil and from the little rainfall we have right now. Unless rain will pour down for many days none of the rain will reach the ground water levels which are very low but everything will be sucked up by the vegetation.

[@carlagarrett3244]

EdibleAcres has done TONS of compost chicken ways, very successful.

[@lunaflamed]

Carla Garrett another of my FAV Homestead channels!!

[@charlymaher3361]

Are chickens like dogs in that they'll eat themselves to death? A dog won't stop eating if there's more food in front of it. How about chickens?

[@MetaView7]

if you don't feed the chickens, they will go find their own food.

[@googeliswiththegreys]

he just ran cowshit thru his hair...lol. Dont forget to do the black fly bucket...lots of maggots and whatnot

[@kappafrankerzhej4187]

Hej

[@patricminderhout]

Humans must have at the cellular level 40 mill volts below that the cell will die.

[@heathergustafson4237]

Compost is the way it should be. Recycle from what you have and use the compost to help in soooo many ways. Farmers in the US need to get back to some reality and stop always using chemicals. There’s a zillion ways to use compost.

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

Good Permaculture practices: observation, analysis, action, repeat. It will be interesting to see you build your compost pile and how the experiment with feeding the chickens goes. Are you planning to mix your raw materials together better or let them remain in separate clumps in the pile and hope they compost? I noticed that while Karl Hammer does store his raw materials separately, he mixes them together to create a compost pile. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4immXtvgq2efsk I, too, was very inspired by the video with Karl Hammer. Thank you for this video

[@MalcolmSmall]

the chicken will eat all your worms and bugs that help break the compost down you are just going to end up with a pile of crap

[@hughmcclanahan2048]

Watch ABC Farms

[@sethjones5078]

For your non Swedish viewers why don't you try to teach us a few words each video

[@iwantosavemoney]

then i would be rich

[@malwoanders]

Lälles ;)

[@glennschuett199]

If I don't eat pork now because of how they eat. Your new way of feeding chickens off the manure pile will stop people from eating chickens Glenn from Marinette wi

[@simeonandalex]

Really? First off, this is not a manure pile. Second, chickens that eat worms and insects and food scraps (which they do in nature) is turning you off?? What turns me off is antibiotic-fed chicken that eat manmade feed grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Btw, cow manure has several enzymes that chickens need for digestion.

[@DaKayH]

One thing. You talk too much and show very little of the process. Can you try doing and then edit your lecture about it later?

[@simeonandalex]

I am not sure how to take this statement? Do you mean you just want to see the finished result? Many people want to see the whole process and find that helpful. Or do you mean that you want me to film more of for example putting together the pile? We can't always be filming if we want to get things done. We are very busy.

[@doublez724]

Debra Hall. If you don't like it then don't watch it.....your problem solved.

[@judthemagicdragon]

Half the joy of this channel is seeing the original idea, and watching over time for the outcome ... I personally find it extremely refreshing .. rather than a 2 minute 'how to do everything' video .. without any hint of reality .. I like 'living' with this family ..

[@MetaView7]

Simeon: I think you are doing just fine... sometimes you do more, sometimes you talk more... that's just how things turn out.

[@Leffe192]

I think Debra meant like filming when moving the compost pile around or someting, and then talking about the process while editing the movie, think they refer to it as voiceover... Some youtubers use voiceover a lot, some mix it in, and some do it like you. I think it is a matter of preference, both for the audience and the youtuber. An indoors sound recording is often more clear, but to my opinion also often less inspired. That can of course be solved by editing the sound of an outdoors "lecture" with the video of som animals, plants or tractor driving. Since this is a thread of friendly suggestions on content we'd like to see I'll pitch mine in: I, on my hand love to see growing plants, and would be thrilled to see some (roughly) weekly footage of you just walking through the garden beds with a camera, commenting like "x is growing fine, y got eaten by slugs, we started harvesting z" etc. Keep up the good work!